Point of View

In Whisper Network, Chandler Baker establishes a unique perspective that shifts from a plural first person point of view into a close third person perspective in past tense. Many of the chapters begin by referring to a collective “we.” For example, Chapter 1 starts, “Before that day, our lives raced along an invisible roller-coaster track, a cart fastened to the rails through engineering and forces we couldn’t wholly grasp, despite our superabundance of academic degrees. We moved with a sense of controlled chaos” (3). This is significant because the narrator establishes a group of those to whom they refer when they say “we.” It becomes clear as the narration continues that this group is specific to women, particularly those who work in an office environment, like the main characters of this novel.

However, this perspective shifts into third person within a few paragraphs of each chapter...